I Don't Dance
by Cassandra Mulder
Summary: The danger is over, but Peggy realizes if she's going to have a future with Daniel, she'll have to make the first move.
**Title:** I Don't Dance
 **Author:** Cassandra  
 **Rating:** T  
 **Spoilers:** None, technically, though this ended up being in a similar vein to 2x10, Hollywood Ending.  
 **Classification:** Romance; Fluff; Peggy Carter/Daniel Sousa  
 **Summary:** The danger is over, but Peggy realizes if she's going to have a future with Daniel, she'll have to make the first move.  
 **Disclaimer:** Unfortunately, none of this belongs to me or I'd have twenty seasons of Peggy adventures with Daniel and Jarvis and Howard by her side. It's all Marvel's, so may they treat her better than I expect. (In short, we need a season 3!)  
 **A/N:** I wrote this over February 28th and 29th (an appropriate day for a lady to make the first move), so when I watched "Hollywood Ending" tonight, I was surprised, and pleased, how much the tone of this matched the show. No spoilers, though, technically. I just had this idea in my head for awhile, and since I loved these two together, I wanted to see some banter and making out. Which I got in my dreams, in my fic, and in "reality". ;) Feedback is love. Thanks for reading in advance.

* * *

When Daniel had picked Peggy up at Howard's mansion, neither of them had been sure they believed they would actually make it to their destination. It was so unlike them to be able to follow through with a personal plan.

Now here they sat in a dimly lit club, perched at the bar, having what was supposed to be a casual drink. Funny how nothing felt casual between them anymore. The conversation was comfortable, but underneath all of that was a current dangerously close to the surface.

They had almost lost each other numerous times over the course of the last few weeks, and it had taken its toll. There were too many things to talk about, and no smooth transition.

Peggy was tired of so many things, but maybe none so much as not having what she wanted. And now that she knew what, or, rather who, that was, she knew she was going to have to be the one to make a move. As she looked at Daniel slowly swirling his brandy in the glass, she reflected on how many times she had shied away or just plain shot him down, and she couldn't blame him for not trying again. Left up to him, this night would end with them going home and going their separate ways, possibly forever. She didn't think she could live with that again.

Daniel kept glancing at Peggy, trying to figure out something to say that didn't bring the room down; not that that was an easy task for them lately. There had been a lot of life and death raining around them, and he was too afraid to broach the subject heaviest on his mind. Hope had given way to resignation once again, and here he was with a beautiful woman he knew he loved more than anything with no chance of her ever being his.

The band faded out from one song, and as it launched into another, he found himself presented with Peggy's hand.

"Will you dance with me, Daniel?" she said, doing her best to keep her voice steady.

He automatically reached out to grasp her hand, but as his eyes met hers he shook his head. "I don't dance," he said, tapping his artificial leg with his crutch.

Peggy let out a huff and rolled her eyes, standing as she pulled him off of his bar stool. "I've seen you do harder things than dance, so don't give me that excuse."

Maybe she was right, but he still wasn't comfortable with the implications of saying yes. He floundered for a bit, trying to decide how to proceed. It wasn't going to work with the crutch, so he wedged it between the bar and his stool. He gave Peggy a skeptical look, but she just jerked her head toward the dance floor.

His hand tightly in hers, he gingerly followed her to the edge of the dance floor. When she stepped into his arms, neither of them moved at first. Their eyes locked as his right arm slid around her waist, and she brought their joined hands upward. He suddenly wasn't sure if he felt unsteady because of the lack of his crutch, or the fact that her body was pressed against his. His mouth went dry, and anything he had wanted to say had completely flown out of his head.

Peggy felt her breath hitch, but she had to remain steady. After all, this had been her idea. She had imagined this once or twice (perhaps more, but that is all she would allow herself), but reality was so much better than she had imagined. She wasn't expecting anything fancy, so when Daniel carefully started to sway to the melody of "The Way You Look Tonight", she relaxed into his arms.

Daniel didn't know what she had been expecting when she asked him to dance, but he had very few moves left. It had been an activity he had enjoyed before the war, mostly for the purpose of meeting girls, but now he was left a little off balance in more ways than one. When he swayed just a little off course, Peggy righted with him no fanfare.

"I've got you," she said, a twinkle in her eye.

"You always have, Peg." His tone was almost rueful, but he didn't look away.

She swallowed hard at that, but she knew it was true. His heart was in his eyes, and it wasn't the first time she had seen it there. The air between them was suddenly heated, with no escape. She'd started this, at least tonight, so perhaps she had better finish it.

Before she could think it through, and certainly without giving him any warning, she kissed him.

Daniel might have fallen over, except he had stopped moving. All he could feel was the slide of her red lips against his as her fingers wound through the hair at the nape of his neck. He wasn't sure what was happening past the fact she had spontaneously decided to kill him.

Peggy didn't know if the world had decided to stand still, or if it was just them. She felt the clutch of Daniel's hand at the small of her back, adding to the thrill that was already shooting through her. She may have caught him off guard, but as usual, he caught up quickly.

When she finally pulled back, Daniel looked dazed, and she tried to hide the quirk of her mouth at the sight of his covered in her crimson lipstick. If he looked like that, she couldn't imagine what a sight they must be together.

"What are you doing, Peggy?" he asked, still not sure he was dealing with reality. He had seen stranger things, and very recently.

"What I apparently should have done some time ago, Daniel," she said, as she dropped the hand she still held and primly smoothed the skirt of her red dress. "If only I had known you could kiss like that."

"You never asked."

"Well, you never volunteered the information either. A good agent sometimes has to do her own reconnaissance."

"Oh, is that so?" She looked just a little too smug for her own good, and now that he had a good sense of where she was going (for once), he figured two could play that game. He abruptly pulled her in by the waist, doing his best to hold in a groan as their lips met again. Another song had started to play, but he wasn't sure how long they could hold out without making a bigger scene than they probably already were.

Peggy's head was spinning, an almost unfamiliar sensation for her anymore, and when Daniel broke the kiss he gave no illusion of refraining from being smug in the least.

He simply shrugged. "Reconnaissance."

Peggy bit her lip as she sized him up. "Mmmhmmm." He had just kissed her senseless twice, if you counted her initiation, on a dance floor, and she was quite at a loss for words.

He waited.

"Let's get out of here, Daniel," she said decidedly as she gripped his hand, careful not to throw him off balance on the way back to the bar.

He didn't have to be told twice. He retrieved his crutch, threw a wad of cash on the bar, and watched, bemused, as Peggy slugged back the remainder of her whiskey neat, almost slamming the glass back onto the shiny wood finish in her haste.

"Careful there, Peggy," he cautioned, afraid maybe they were getting a bit ahead of themselves. The look in her eyes was wild, and he would admit that while that scared him a little, he also liked it. A lot.

"Done with careful, I'd say." She meant it. She felt like letting go, finally, of so many awful years. She wanted to rid herself of the fears that had caused her to hold so much back. She was tired of being scared of losing everyone she loved instead of being with them. She didn't want anything to happen to Daniel, but she didn't want to lose anymore time with him. He understood her in a way no one, maybe even Steve, ever had. They clicked. They worked together, wordlessly, always seeming to know what the other was going to do or say before they did or said it. It terrified her to her very bones to know someone that connected to her, but it was also exhilarating.

He handed her into the car, and as he came around he watched her get settled. This was a Peggy Carter with the weight of the world off her shoulders, if only for a moment. He knew her well enough to know it couldn't last forever, that at the next threat she would be tough as nails and on the warpath again. But he liked this Peggy, as he liked every side of her he had seen, and he was sure he would like those he had yet to learn. He loved her, all of her, and he knew in his heart that was forever.

He got into the car and started the engine, and he could feel her eyes on him. "What are you thinking, Peg?"

"I'm thinking that I love you."

He smiled, but he couldn't help but joke, "I think you've had too much to drink."

She scowled, unamused by his dismissal. "No, Daniel, you don't get to do that. I almost... you could've... You almost died a couple of days ago, and you would have gone out thinking I didn't care for you at all just because I was afraid to say it."

"I'm sorry, Peggy, I love you, but you know I do. I just didn't see any reason you could love me."

She scoffed. "What? A smart, capable, clever, determined, handsome man? Don't sell yourself short, ever. The only person you're cheating is yourself."

"You're gonna make me blush."

She laughed, and grabbed him by the lapels, kissing him long and slow, savoring the taste of him, the feel of him under her hands. "I may very well do so, but it could be a bit yet."

He sighed deeply. She was going to be the death of him yet, and the sad part was that he would probably like it.

"Take me home, Daniel. I have it on good authority that the Stark mansion is empty tonight." She was not beyond using teasing as a form of torture.

"Do you now?" he said, raising his eyebrows. She swatted his arm, gesturing forward as he put the car in drive. He was ready to spend the rest of his life doing as Peggy said.

Finis


End file.
